RBI’s KYC Norms Adversely Affect the Usage of Mobile Wallets

RBI’s KYC Norms

India’s mobile wallet industry saw a sharp fall in usage in March as new Reserve Bank of India regulations kicked in. The number of transactions through mobile wallets dropped 13% to 289.79 million in March from 310.01 million in February and the value of money settled through wallets dropped 23% to Rs 10,000 crore from Rs 13,100 crore.

With our nation showing higher adoption of digital payments, transactions using mobile wallets have become less most likely because of customers moving out of the wallet ecosystem after RBI made KYC match mandatory from March.

“The only possible explanation could be that transactions have picked up in terms of usage of wallets for goods and services because remittance payments through wallets have definitely fallen as per our systems,” said the chief executive of a mobile wallet company, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Furthermore, Amazon spokesperson had said being loaded into Amazon wallets had fallen by 95%, which could affect the rapid digitization of payments through wallets in rural and semi-urban locations.